Community Legal Companion Launch

(Pictured at the launch, from left to right, are: Clive Black, The Law Society, Professor Nick Foskett (Vice-Chancellor, Keele University) ,HH Judge Jack, Stoke on Trent Combined Courts, Parveen Hassan (CPS), Mike Wolfe (Chair, Brighter Futures), Dr Jane Krishnadas (Director of Legal Outreach, Keele) and Dr Andrew Francis (Head of the School of Law, Keele University)

The public launch of the Community Legal Outreach Collaboration Keele (CLOCK) took place on the 24th October 2012. The launch featured the "graduation" of the first cohort of Community Legal Companions, public addresses from our partner organisations, and the community legal fair.

These are very difficult times for those involved in litigation in our courts. Public funding for legal representation is not so widely available as it was in the past but the cost of engaging solicitors is prohibitive. In this context the local scheme called 'Community Legal Outreach Collaboration, Keele' is a very welcome development.

The judges of Stoke-on-Trent County Court have met representatives from CLOCK and we have been very impressed by the scheme. The presence of trained volunteers in our court on a daily basis will provide a valuable source of support for many Court Users facing difficult issues.

We feel fortunate that this imaginative scheme is based locally.  We look forward to supporting the development of the scheme.

Ross Duggan

H.H. Judge Ross Duggan

Designated Family Judge
Stoke-on-Trent Combined Court Centre

The cuts to legal aid are sadly inevitable, but the time for reflection on those cuts has passed and we must now look at how to ensure access to justice facilitated for those who need it. This initiative encapsulates that approach and I hope that it will eventually be replicated in some way in other areas around the country. The Community Legal Companion idea not only helps to serve those seeking support when encountering the legal system, but it also gives the lawyers of tomorrow vital experience and a deep understanding of the importance of access to justice.”

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff

Law Society President


We support wholeheartedly such a worthwhile scheme especially in light of the future legal aid cuts. Anything that will assist the flurry of litigants in  person that the courts will be dealing with come next April is welcomed by us as not only will it help them in presenting their cases more effectively but also more expeditiously.

Sophia OHagan

Barrister Regent Chambers

“I am very pleased to be associated with the work of CLOCK. Severe cuts to legal aid will prevent the vulnerable and disadvantaged from seeking redress through the courts. The public launch of CLOCK today is a community-led response to the gaping hole the government  have created, and I applaud the efforts of everyone involved.”

Tristram Hunt, MP,

Stoke-on-Trent Central

Government cuts to Legal Aid will deny justice and essential services to some of the nation`s most vulnerable people. Here in Stoke we have more than our fair share of people who desperately need legal help to maintain their income, their safety or their homes and to enforce other basic rights. From April the help which has been available will mostly disappear. I am delighted that CLOCK will both provide companions to people who suffer from the cuts, but will also act as a monitoring project to tell Government what impact their cuts are having. I believe it will help individuals who need to access advice and legal help and it will also give us a new breed of lawyer who are trained to understand the issues facing poorer people.

"Cuts in legal Aid are part of a double whammy which will hit the poorest hardest. The other part is the cuts to the Benefits system upon which so many people depend. This scheme is NOT a replacement for Legal Aid; social welfare law is too complex for that. However, we can make a virtue out of the necessity and use the CLOCK scheme to provide vital help to those suffering most and to provide learning which will hopefully inform the debate about an improved Legal Aid scheme once this is recognised as a necessity by policy makers.

The scheme will do 4 things:

1) Help some of the most vulnerable.

2) Give us a generation of lawyers who have been exposed to the realities of poverty and disadvantage and understand the satisfactions to be derived from a career in social welfare law.

3) Help Courts to deal with complex cases and unrepresented parties.

4) Allow us to gather information on the effects of the cuts and to present this to Government and others with the backing of the academic reputation of the Uni. This social policy dimension of a lawyers work will be better understood by future lawyers who participate in CLOCK and thus they will discharge their professional responsibilities to society as a whole more fully."

Mike Wolfe

First Elected Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent